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BERLIN (Reuters) – Germany’s churches criticized a businessman on Tuesday for selling thousands of Jesus chocolates.

Frank Oynhausen set up his “Sweet Lord” chocolate Jesus-making business saying he wanted to restore some traditional religious values to Christmas in Germany.

But the German Protestant Church criticized the idea as “tasteless” and the Roman Catholic Church was not amused.

Full Article [Thanks, Nathan!]

I guess I watch The Simpsons too much because after I read the title to the article the first thought in my mind was Homer drooling saying, “Mmmmmmm, chocolate Jesus . . . “

As a dairy farmer, Kevin Jahnke knows all about early mornings, but Tuesdays are a special case.

When his alarm sounds at 12:30 a.m., Jahnke, 42, drives 10 miles to St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Fennimore.

For the next hour, he sits in a small chapel, sometimes praying, sometimes reading or sometimes just staring at a wall to clear his head.

At 2 a.m., another parishioner takes his place.

For more than 12 years now, this prayer chain has gone unbroken. Seven days a week, 24 hours a day, someone is always in the chapel.

The effort seems logistically daunting, especially for a relatively small congregation, yet church members say they are driven by a powerful spiritual component.

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